Getting Healthy-ish in the Kitchen

I mentioned last week in my "Thanks to Pinterest" post that Dan typically works late on Monday nights, so I try to use that as an excuse to make new recipes that he wouldn't like to join me in taste-testing. Usually, that means something that's a little lighter and healthier than our norm. But, as a total carb-addict myself, I have to get creative with meals that will still fill me up and make me still feel like I'm eating the delicious carb-y goodness of bread or pasta that I know and love. Thankfully, I'm loving experimenting with things like polenta and quinoa, so while I know these recipes aren't the same as eating a salad or something, they're a step in the right direction for me and I'm excited to have a few new (and super simple!) favorites in my arsenal.

First up was The Lucky Penny's Cauliflower Pizza Crust, which I tackled the night I said I would and shared with Manda. To put it simply - we are in love. Seriously. This crust was INCREDIBLE, and I'm regretting having posted in on my blog because I genuinely think I could have passed it off as a regular old pizza to the hubs if he hadn't known I was experimenting with cauliflower. Oh well. More for me.

I also made a shrimp and polenta dinner for myself and Bridget on a Monday night that was loosely based on a Today's Parent recipe I found on Pinterest. I only had a polenta "log" instead of instant, so I just threw a few thick slices in a pan with some olive oil and didn't bother to season it at all. I cooked up some shrimp with red pepper flakes, whole peeled tomatoes and a little garlic, and threw in a handful of spinach at the last minute, and served it all over the polenta slices. Delicious and took less than 15 minutes to get together!

Finally, with the rest of my frozen shrimp I whipped up a "Zesty Shrimp and Quinoa" recipe last night, which I also found on Pinterest. Based on the comments on the recipe (and the fact that I only had a little soy sauce anyways), I knocked down the amount of sauce pretty drastically but kept the quinoa portion the same. In the end, I think I used about 1/8 cup of soy sauce and half as much balsamic vinegar, and a little more garlic than called for. I also skipped the onion and hot sauce and threw broccoli in at the end. I'm already looking forward to leftovers for dinner tonight.

I haven't yet tackled the other projects mentioned in my Pinterest post, mostly because I'm being indecisive about the details of them, and partially because I've been busy hanging with my favorite bride (that'd be Bridget) to finish up her wedding invitations that I've had the honor of designing! I'm really excited to see the invites finished and love the little tweaks we've made as we perfected them. If you ask me, the route I went with the invites is absolutely spot on for Bridget - the fonts, flouirishes and colors make them really pretty, but the wording is witty and fun. Basically, my best friend on paper ;). I can't wait to show them off here once they're mailed and guests have all received them!